Magic: the Gathering Blog

Listen up Nerds! We’re doing things a bit differently this time! This is the ONLY event we’ll be doing this prerelease cycle. There are 36 seats available for preregistration ONLY. $30.00 will lock you into this event whether you show up or not (we’ll hold your product if you’re not there. We’ll pay out to the top 1/3 of players in packs of ETERNAL MASTERS. We will allocate 2 packs per player for prize support! This should be a very cool event! Don’t miss out!

Another Magic set is upon us! Many of your favorite planeswalkers have banded together to fight back against the growing threat posed by the monstrous Eldrazi on the plane of Zendikar! Led by Gideon Jura, this team of elite heroes needs your help!

We’ll be running special sealed deck events at midnight, noon and 6PM on Saturday, September the 26th and a 2-headed-giant special sealed at noon on Sunday the 27th! Events will be $30.00 per player.

Each prerelease kit contains 6 Battle For Zendikar booster packs, 1 date-stamped promotional card, and a few goodies. Good luck and we’ll see you there!

We’ve got another exciting Warhammer 40,000 tournament this weekend! This time, we’ve pulled out all the stops. Players are invited to bring 1,500 points unbound! $10.00 will get you to the table and the tournament winner will get store credit based on attendance. The event will get underway at 10AM! Best of luck!

There’s all kinds of cool stuff happening at the shop this weekend! First off, it’s the PRERELEASE for MAGIC ORIGINS! The new core set for Magic: The Gathering is highly anticipated as it ushers in a new era for Magic fans! This will be the FINAL core set ever and contains some very cool new cards as well as some favorites from sets past! Sealed deck events will fire at Midnight, Noon, and 6PM on Saturday, July 11th and a 2-headed-giant sealed deck event will fire on Sunday, July 12th at noon! Event registration will be $30.00 (NOTE: this price is different than in the past) and packs will be awarded to top finishers! Come down and experience the new product before it goes on sale next week!

Also seeing release this weekend is AGE OF SIGMAR! The new game in the Warhammer world features entirely new gameplay and soem cool new rules! We’ll have it on sale at midnight on July 11th! Come check out the new models!

We’ll be hosting a Grand Prix Trial for GP Montreal coming up on Saturday, June 6th! The format will be Dragons of Tarkir sealed! $35.00 will get players 2 packs of Fate Reforged and 4 packs of Dragons of Tarkir. Players will build their decks from these packs and play their swiss rounds with these decks. The winner of the tournament will get two byes for Grand Prix Montreal on July 3rd-4th, 2015. Feel free to e-mail us with any questions!

The wait is FINALLY over. If you’re interested in getting into the increasingly popular modern Magic format, we’ve got packs of MODERN MASTERS 2015 available now! Packs retail for 10$ apiece and will go fast! This set reprints a boatload of modern Magic staples including Tarmogoyf, Dark Confidant, Mox Opal and more!

Sunday, February 22nd, We will be running both a PTQ & PPTQ
PTQ – $30
Booster packs to rest of top 1/3rd finishers based on standings after Swiss.
Additional booster packs based on Top 8 standings.
1st gets an invite to Pro Tour Brussels and a WoTC provided travel award
Additional prizes TBA after official attendences
PPTQ – $30
1st $400, 2nd $200, 3rd & 4th $100 5-8 $50 each
Booster Packs to rest of top 1/3 finishers based on attendance.

Registration begins at 8:00 a.m.
Round 1 of the PTQ begins at 10:00 a.m.
Round 1 of the PPTQ begins at 1:00 p.m.

New Hampshire 2013’s State and Provincial Championships

Sunday, October 6 – Entry Fee: $25

Doors open at 9 am and tournament starts at 10 am SHARP

There will be a maximum of 80 seats for this event, so please pre-register if possible.

Each player in the top 8 will receive a From the Vault: Twenty

AND each player in the top 8 will receive the 2013 top 8 playmat:

In addition, the champion will receive a championship plaque, a custom ID card and playmat designed specifically for them*. *Champion is responsible for getting all requested information and photo to supplier by date on coupon

How does one get into a state championship? Can you just enter or do you have to be invited? Anyone can play, it does not take a special invitation (but if you need one consider this it!)

How long does one of these usually take? What time does it start? Visit with your local organizer about details like that, we promise you the championship in Ohio will take longer than the one in New Mexico. You can find your local organizer HERE.

Hey, I won a championship a couple years ago and never got my Custom DCI Card can I still get that? For Sure! Check out the Custom DCI Card page HERE.

If I have an issue with a particular organizer or something is wrong with The2011’s do I contact Wizards? Actually No, The2011’s is an independent program run by local organizers. The tournaments are sanctioned by the DCI, so if you have a match result appeal speak to them. But for all other issues begin with your local organizer first and then if that doesn’t work out you may discuss your issue with Sunmesa Events HERE.

I’d like to judge or get a dealer table at the championship who do I speak to about that? Staffing, venues, dealers and all other issues of that nature are handled by the local organizer. You can find out who that is HERE.

Does the Champion get an invite to the Pro Tour, Worlds or similar cool invite? No, the championship has always been far more about pride and personal achievement. If you look at many of the best players in North America you will find they often began their journey by winning a championship.

Will there be a Writer’s Contest this year? No, we have elected to put our focus into direct advertising this year. That said, we are very grateful for all the coverage smart Magic players have given generously over the years.

My friendly local game store is much closer and does great events can they run the championship for my area instead? This is a question we get asked a lot, and it’s a hard one (folks in Montana are amazingly blessed by many great places to play). Bottom line, the folks running the championships now are Sunmesa Events customers. They pay us money to help them out with this event, so for us to make a change the need for a change must be clear. We make changes very reluctantly. When the time comes to make a change we thoroughly research the situation and select the location we believe will best serve the players.

Used to be you had to play where you lived is that still true? No, back in 2009 it was decided to allow players to play anywhere.

Why did you do that, what’s a Delaware state championship mean if the champ is from New York?Several reasons actually. Since there are only 62 venues in North America a large number of players were just too far from the place their championship occurred. Also verification of who was (and more importantly was not) a resident was a problem. Exceptions provided trouble proving who lived where. Seriously, we didn’t want to exclude active duty military because they were stationed out of their state or province, same for students, foreign nationals etc. We agree in general that a Delaware resident should be the Champ in Delaware but luckily we discovered after the change that “out of area” winners were fairly uncommon.

How come you don’t have all the names and photos of the champions? That answer lies in the same reasons we don’t get all the Custom DCI Cards out to all players. Sometimes we don’t get a photo at the championship, other times the information is not given to us by the organizer, finally sometimes we simply misplace or misfile the data and it’s lost to us for awhile. One reason we placed the past champions (including the MIAs) was to work on completing the record.

Do you have a Facebook page? Yes we do and you can access it HERE. You must be logged into Facebook for that link to work.

Who created the playmat? The image is called Dragon Slayerdone by Kekai Kotaki. You can check out more of his art HERE.

Will you be publishing the Top 8 Decklists? Yes, you should be able to find the Decklists HERE.

Game Days are the first opportunity for you to play Standard on a global
scale with the newest cards. They immerse you in the storyline of the new set,
and give you the opportunity to win preview cards from the next Magicset, Mirrodin Besieged!

Where Can I Play?

Game Days are happening worldwide on October 30-31!

What Happens There?

Game Days are Standard format. The tournament will be Swiss-style, with the
top 8 players after the Swiss rounds advancing to the single-elimination finals.
In the case of an event with 16 players or less, only the top 4 will advance.
Where necessary, the standings after the Swiss rounds will be used to determine
final order in the standings.

In the case of an event with exactly 8 players, there will be three Swiss
rounds with no single-elimination cut.

What Do I Get?

All participants receive an exclusive Memnite promo card (while supplies
last). The top 8 players each receive an exclusive full-art Tempered Steel promo
card. The cards are awarded to the Top 8 players even if the tournament cuts
only to the top 4.

The top 2 finishers with Mirran-affiliated decks receive a Peace Strider
preview card from Mirrodin Besieged, and the top 2 finishers with
Phyrexia-affiliated decks receive a Pierce Strider preview card! This is in
addition to any top 8 prize cards you might win for their overall event
finish.

Selected top 8 decks and all Game Day winners will also be featured on
magicthegathering.com.

What Does an “Affliated Deck” Mean?

All cards in Scars of Mirrodin are watermarked with either a Mirran or
Phyrexian symbol to represent the card’s affiliation. You can build your Game
Day deck to be affiliated with one of the two sides; this makes you eligible to
win the Mirrodin Besieged preview cards. (Having an affiliated deck is
not required for Game Day; you can play any Standard-legal deck you choose.)

An affiliated deck must have at least ten watermarked cards from its
affiliated faction in its main deck, and no watermarked cards from the opposing
faction in its main deck or sideboard. The deck must still be Standard-legal.

Go to the Scars of Mirrodin Prerelease and experience the newestMagic: The Gathering set a week before it goes on sale! Play, trade,
spend time with friends, and win cool prizes. Play in any tournament and receive
an exclusive Wurmcoil Engine promo card (while supplies last)!

What Happens There?

Scars of Mirrodin Prerelease Tournaments are Sealed Deck format. Each
player receives 6 Scars of Mirrodin booster packs to build a deck. The
tournaments are run using Swiss rounds with a minimum of four rounds per event.
(Tournaments with only 8 players may run three rounds.)

Some events may be run using a modified Swiss-style structure and/or
single-elimination rounds. Contact your local Prerelease Tournament organizer
for specific details.

What Else Can I Do?

In addition to the main Prerelease Tournament event, some locations may offer
additional public events. Other product mixes are allowable as long as each
player in the event receives the same number and type of packs.

Open Dueling — Open Dueling is a casual format primarily for players
not participating in the main Prerelease Tournament. Open Dueling players
receive 1 Scars of Mirrodin Intro Pack chosen at random and 1 Wurmcoil
Engine promo card (while supplies last). Open Dueling players play against other
Open Dueling participants as well as main tournament players who are between
matches. After an Open Dueling participant has played five matches, upon
confirmation of the results by the event organizer that player will receive one
complimentary booster pack provided by the organizer as a prize.

Team Events — Playing with friends as a team is a fun and exciting way
to enjoy Magic. For Two-Headed Giant events, the recommended product mix
is 8 Scars of Mirrodin booster packs per team.

Game Day takes place at participating Wizards Play Network locations
worldwide one month after the Magic 2011 release. Game Days are
the first opportunity to play Standard format on a global scale with the cards
from Magic 2011!

Where Can I Play?

Game Days are happening worldwide on August 14-15!

What Happens There?

Game Days are Standard format. The tournament will be Swiss-style, with the
top 8 players after the Swiss rounds advancing to the single-elimination finals.
In the case of an event with 16 players or less, only the top 4 will advance.
Where necessary, the standings after the Swiss rounds will be used to determine
final order in the standings.

In the case of an event with exactly 8 players, there will be three Swiss
rounds with no single-elimination cut.

What Do I Get?

All participants receive an exclusive Liliana’s Specter promo card (while
supplies last).The top 8 players each receive an exclusive full-art Mitotic
Slime promo card. The cards are awarded to the Top 8 players even if the
tournament cuts only to the top 4. Two Mitotic Slime promo cards will also be
awarded as door prizes at each location.

The winner receives the Magic 2011 Game Day winners
certificate, as well as the Magic 2011 Champion title. Selected
top 8 decks and all Game Day winners will also be featured on
magicthegathering.com.